My usual modus operandi is to watch a series in order whenever the fancy strikes me to tackle one.  That has not been the case with the Bourne franchise.  With them, I have looked at them at the random moments they have come across the various streaming services I peruse.  Perhaps I am not being fair to them?  Or maybe it is that my cinematic tastes have changed?  I ask these rhetorical questions because there was a time when such cinematic fare was my preference.  It has changed since I began taking my Faith more seriously.  Getting older helps, too.  Put differently, I am no longer the young firebrand ready to vicariously kick, punch, or shoot my way out of any situation.  Ironically, one can make the argument that the same can be said for the eponymous character, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), and the second entry, The Bourne Supremacy (2004), is no different.

You would not know you are dealing with an action thriller with the beginning of The Bourne Supremacy.  It would also help if you have seen the previous movie, otherwise you are going to wonder why a highly trained, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assassin is living a somewhat settled life on a beach in India.  He is there with his girlfriend, Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), and despite his nightmares, they seem to be getting along fine.  Elsewhere in the world, though, trouble is afoot.  CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) is in Berlin, Germany, looking for information on an assassination of an opposition Russian politician that took place in the German capital seven years ago.  Instead, her efforts are thwarted by a mysterious Russian assassin we later learn is a corrupt Federal Security Service (FSB) named Kirill (Karl Urban).  Once he is done there, his handler, Yuri Gretkov (Karel Roden), sends him to India to kill Jason.  Being the highly skilled individual he is, Jason spots Kirill before the killer can act.  Gathering up Marie as fast as possible, they attempt to flee.  Unfortunately, Kirill gets a shot at the car, and it strikes Marie in the head.  Their vehicle crashes over the side of a bridge, but she is dead before they hit the water.  Jason assumes it is Treadstone, the highly illegal assassination program for which he once worked.  Meanwhile, the evidence from Deputy Director Landy’s botched operation points to Jason, though she does not have the security clearance to access the proper files.  This prompts a trip to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where she is able to obtain access to the needed information from her boss, Director Martin Marshall (Tomas Arana).  Her trip also brings her into contact with Ward Abbott (Brian Cox), who was the originator of Treastone.  Against their wishes, Ward and Deputy Director Landy are ordered to return to Berlin and pursue Jason, particularly after he is picked up in Naples trying to enter Europe.  It is clear that Jason has allowed himself to be temporarily detained.  When he is questioned by a CIA field operative, he overpowers him and is able to get information behind who he believes is after him.  With that, it is on to Germany to confront Jarda (Marton Csokas), one of the few remaining Treadstone agents and thus capable of attempting to assassinate him.  When Jarda proves to be innocent, despite the violent exchange between them, Jason realizes there is something bigger happening.  His next move is to speak to Nicky (Julia Stiles), another CIA agent who had assisted with Treadstone.  From her, he learns that it is Ward who is responsible, and that he is in Berlin.  The trick, though, is how to get to Ward when the CIA is combing the city looking for Jason.  Since Jason has already figured out the hotel in which the Langley personnel are staying, it is a matter of getting Ward alone.  By creating a diversion from his amnesia riddled memory of his time in Treadstone, recalling when he had been the one to murder the previously mentioned Russian politician and his wife, he knows Ward will not want anything to do with that location.  Sneaking up on the aged Ward in his hotel room, Jason is able to record a conversation between the corrupt CIA agent and Yuri.  Ward is begging Yuri to reactivate Kirill to take care of Jason, but the Russian refuses.  Over Ward’s protests, Jason makes it clear that he has on tape the incriminating conversation before leaving Ward with a loaded gun.  Not long thereafter, Deputy Director Landy comes to his room.  The fact that he is pointing a gun at her confirms her rising suspicions of his duplicity.  Saying that he is a patriot and that he regrets nothing, he commits suicide.  As for Jason, he is on his way to Moscow, Russia, in order to avenge Marie’s death.  The fight between the two assassins apparently sprawls all over the Russian capital before ending in Kirill’s death.  Deputy Director Landy works with the Russians to have Yuri arrested, and a bruised and battered Jason limps his way to meet Irena Neski (Oksana Akinshina).  She is the daughter of the Russian politician he had murdered.  With all his loose ends apparently closed, he travels to New York City to thank Deputy Director Landy from afar for helping before disappearing into the crowd.

What is not crowded is my synopsis of The Bourne Supremacy.  It is not my intention to be shorter.  At the same time, what is there to say?  While the world of espionage is complex, and you do get a sense of that from the film, the reason people watch these films is for the action.  Outside of that, it is a pretty simple revenge story.  Jason thinks he and Marie are safe living in an out of the way location.  And he would have gone on like that, too, had Ward not been up to nefarious tricks.  If there is anything on which I can focus my Catholic energies, it is a conversation early on between Jason and Marie.  As they are fleeing from Kirill, she can tell that he is going to do something rash as only a trained assassin can do.  She protests, saying that there is another way, but he claims that violence is all these people understand.  Church teaching would tell you that, to a certain degree, they are both right.  To Marie’s point, there is Matthew 26:52 when Jesus reminds Peter that “. . . all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”  This comes as Peter draws a blade as guards come to arrest Jesus the night before His passion.  One could argue that if there was ever a time for violence, it was that one.  Yet, doing so at that time would only have needlessly spilled blood when it was all happening according to prophecy.  Jesus was to fulfill His mission, but Peter little understood this at that time.  However, the Church does not say that we must automatically go like lambs before the slaughter, especially when there is an unjust cause involved.  Then again, the Church does not approve of bloody revenge, so little of this is actually applicable to the film.  There is some restraint when Jason does not murder Ward himself, but the moral pendulum swings the other way again when Jason leaves a pistol for Ward to use on himself to commit suicide.

If the themes of revenge and suicide do not sound like your idea of a good time, you might want to watch something other than The Bourne Supremacy.  At the same time, it is not bad.  Just because I am increasingly bored with intense action flicks does not mean you will feel the same way.  In other words, I have nothing to object to about it, generally speaking.